Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Thoughts from the week in Football

First I'll start with the Michigan game and then other games I watched. Jason Avant looked great, he did everything we expected and more. I knew he would have a much better showing this year considering there's a lot of extra balls to go around now but I didn't expect that great of a day. His enthusiasm and love of the game make him easily my favorite player on the team today.

Minus the fumble and being stuffed on 4th down, although there penetration got deep to trip him up, I liked what I saw in Kevin Grady, especially being his first game. It's hard not to get excited about the rushing attack with Hart showing his truck stick and speed on the screen along with the good showing from Grady. I, like many, were probably surprised to see Grady back on the field after the fumble considering Lloyd does not put you back in the game if you're young and fumble. Another surprise was Jerome Jackson getting carries ahead of Max Martin during mop up duty. There was talk that Martin was falling behind Grady but I didn't expect Jackson to be ahead of him as well.

Henne was solid, as I expected but there were some bad throws which should get better as the season goes along. It was great to see Matt Gutierrez get in there and play, even better when he completed that first down to Avant.

I'm sure it's been said by all Michigan fans but I was disappointed in the defensive performance in the game. It just seemed to lack intensity at all times and for some reason I don't know why it's us that does it a lot of the time. With all the talent we have on the team it should not be happening and I'm sick of it. Hopefully the D wakes up in time for Saturday because if not then we will be in for a long day and I'll leave it at that since it's probably been beaten to death about how disappointed everyone was in the D.

On other games I saw, Omar Jacobs is the real deal. If Bowling Green only had a defense they could've taken that game cause Omar and co. definitely played well enough except for Charles Sharon who had way too many dropped passes for someone who is considered the #1 WR in College Fantasy Football. Speaking of the BG - Wisconsin game, Brian Calhoun just destroyed the Falcons and watching him got me more worried about the Sep 24th Big Ten opener at Camp Randall. Considering how easy it was for NIU to bounce inside runs to the outside it is something that must be fixed immediately or we will be in trouble.

Georgia looked fantastic, you can probably tell I was that impressed with them considering I jumped them all the way to #3 in my top 16. That is the Shockley that everyone has been waiting for since he signed with UGA and the D just shut down a Boise State offense that hasn't been shut down much in the past 2 years. We'll get to see them against the Old Ball Coach's Cock-N-Fire offense this week and I'm excited to see that, I'm sure the Dawgs are anxious to get back at Spurrier.

I may hate USC because of the bandwagon jumping "fans" but I must admit there aren't many players in the country I'd rather watch then Reggie Bush. The TD where he dove into the end zone was sweet, and those who get the LA Times know how dope that picture looked on Sunday's Sports Page.

I thought Tennessee was overrated to begin the year and they're not doing anything to prove me wrong.

What the hell was Franchione thinking about going for the XP at that point of the game??? There goes my sleeper for the NC, but I still think they are good enough to make the Big XII a pretty good fight.

Oklahoma, what else is there to say about them. Thompson looked awful, Bomar didn't look much better and they are in trouble. The O Line was terrible and proved my NCAA 2006 theory correct. I was playing my brother and he was Oklahoma so he could use Adrian Peterson but I could consistently blitz the right side of the line and get penetration every time at that point I half jokingly said that shows why the Oklahoma O Line will be bad this year and I've been proven right so far.

Finally Miami-Florida State, I watched the beginning and end of this game, I had a fantasy football draft in the middle, but as good as the Florida State defense was sacking Kyle Wright 9 times they will not get anything done this year if their offense is that bad. Speaking of Kyle Wright, I liked what I saw in him and if I'm a Cane fan there is the silver lining. I think he is going to be a great QB down in Miami and I can see why he was the #1 QB in the country out of high school. Also can't forget Greg Olsen who did his best Jeremy Shockey / Kellen "I'm a Fuckin Soldier" Winslow imitation by being Wright's target on almost every third down and converting, especially on the 3rd and 19.

Getting extremely excited to head back to the Big House for the first time in over a year, last year the only game I went to was at Columbus so it'll be nice to get back to the friendly confines of Michigan Stadium, until then Go Blue!

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For me to keep up to date with whatever I feel like whether it's sports, music and anything else goin on. I'm a sports junkie but that doesn't even begin to describe me, the site will mostly focus on my two favorite teams, the greatest school in all the land and my alma mater the University of Michigan and the Los Angeles Lakers.